Absence writing: The Chilean and Argentine post-dictatorship sons’ novels
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/arbor.2019.793n3009Keywords:
Second generations, absence, narration, post-dictatorship, Chilean literature, Argentinean literatureAbstract
Reflections on the writings about traumatic events like the dictatorships in Chile and Argentina give rise to a number of aporias that can be summarised by the following questions: How can we understand events that exceed all possible comprehension? How can we narrate events that cannot be verbalised? How can we recollect the testimonies of events with no witnesses? Through this essay I aim to explore these issues in four novels that revolve around absence, as the past generates a lack or void from which writing emerges. More specifically, I will analyse the following novels of the children, those who were growing up during the dictatorships and only experienced it through their parents: Alejandro Zambra´s Formas de volver a casa (2011), Leopoldo Brizuela´s Una misma noche (2012), Patricio Pron´s El espíritu de mis padres sigue subiendo en la lluvia (2011) and Nona Fernández´s Fuenzalida (2010).
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